Testimony: DNA found at murder scene linked to two suspects / LJWorld.com

Archive for Thursday, November 13, 2008

Two men accused of killing a local hip-hop artist in 2006 were in court yesterday.

November 13, 2008, 12:28 p.m. Updated November 13, 2008, 5:46 p.m.

DNA found on items near a body that was discovered in October 2006 led to murder charges against two men, according to testimony in Douglas County District Court.

A preliminary hearing started Thursday morning for the two suspects in the shooting death of Lawrence rap performer Anthony "Clacc" Vital, 28, whose body was found west of Lawrence.

Testimony also indicated that crime lab tests on a shell casing found with the body revealed it was fired from a stolen 9 mm handgun recovered by Kansas City, Mo., police.

Douglas County Sheriff's detectives then linked the gun to one of the suspects, Durell A. Jones, of Kansas City, Kan.

A man told detectives that Jones stole the gun from him during a party Oct. 14, the night before Vital's body was found along a private rural driveway off U.S. Highway 40.

Jones later tried to return the gun to its owner, identified by detectives as Donald Brown, but Brown wouldn't take it back, Detective Scott Bonham said.

But when Brown testified later, he told a different story. He said he asked Jones about the gun and Jones told him, "Don't worry about it." Brown said he never saw the gun again.

Jones and the second suspect, Major C. Edwards, of Lawrence, wore jail uniforms as they listened to testimony during the hearing before Judge Robert Fairchild, who will determine whether there is enough evidence for the two men to be tried on first-degree murder charges.

Vital's body - lying in a semi-fetal position against a utility pole - was found by the property owner, Gary Tilley.

Also found at the scene were items that included a water bottle, a cigarette butt and an unsmoked cigarette. Testing on DNA found on the items matched them to Jones and Edwards, Detective Rita Mays Fulton said.

Investigators developed Jones and Edwards as suspects during a long investigation, Fulton said.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation examined the shell casings and entered information about them into a national computer database.

Last month, the Kansas City Crime Lab contacted the sheriff's office about tests it had conducted on a weapon in its possession after checking the database.

Further tests showed that at least one of the casings found near Vital came from the gun.

The gun had been in Kansas City police possession since November 2006. Kansas City police had taken the gun from another man who was not Jones.

Douglas County Coroner Erik Mitchell testified that Vital was shot three times, once each in the back shoulder, behind an ear and through the forearm and chest.

Jones and Edwards were charged with Vital's murder in March 2008, while in federal custody. They were transferred to the Douglas County Jail in May after convictions in U.S. District Court.

Thomas Peterson, who was being held in a federal holding facility in Leavenworth at the same time as Edwards, testified that Edwards told him he pistol-whipped Vital and the gun went off accidentally. Edwards then "put one more in him" to make sure he was dead while dumping the body, said Peterson, who is awaiting sentencing on a federal firearms charges.

Testimony will continue today.

Discussion

LJWorld.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.
Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.

13 November 2008
at 2:03 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

JohnLloydScharf (Anonymous) says…

When DNA is the critical part of the case, I expect more details about the results:Not all DNA tests are created equal. I would like to know how the DNA sample(s) in this case were tested. Were they a CODIS/ autosomal test? YDNA test? Or mtDNA test? How many markers were used? If a mtDNA test was done, was a full genome sequencing done?Is it a CODIS test? The CODIS system has been tested and there are perfect matches within the database of different persons. A study of the Arizona CODIS database carried out in 2005 showed that approximately 1 in every 228 profiles in the database matched another profile in the database at nine or more loci, that approximately 1 in every 1,489 profiles matched at 10 loci, 1 in 16,374 profiles matched at 11 loci, and 1 in 32,747 matched at 12 loci.Is it a mitochondrial DNA test which matches everyone who descended from the same maternal ancestor in the last 20 generations as the defendent(s)?Is it a Y Chromosome test which matches everyone who has the same paternal lineage for the past 400 years?There may be a way to combine all of these that will resolve the identity to one person, but is what they have beyond a reasonable doubt unless they do FULL testing?
13 November 2008
at 5:48 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

rooster (Anonymous) says…

How bout this DNA result there johnloydscharfMajor c Edwards had just been released from PRISON just before the shooting occured and His sister is in PRISON for attempting to murder a whitness in a separate case and his other brother has had a few run-ins with the law.Although the above info is nothing to convict anyone on it certainly lends credability to the referred to DNA test.
13 November 2008
at 6:46 p.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

somebodynew (Anonymous) says…

JLS - Keep in mind this is only the preliminary hearing. Not many details are ever presented in a prelim. Now when the trial starts, trust me all the DNA experts will be there to disclose what kind of testing and how it was done, and it what lab, etc, etc. This is just enough to show a judge that these guys were “probably” there and involved. The proof beyond reasonable doubt comes with a jury.
14 November 2008
at 6:27 a.m.

Suggest removal

Permalink

tangential_reasoners_anonymous (Anonymous) says…

“DNA found at murder scene linked to two suspects”When twins kill….